RACIST VIOLENCE IN 15 EU MEMBER STATES - Cospe

RACIST VIOLENCE IN 15 EU MEMBER STATES - A Comparative Overview of Findings from the RAXEN NFP Reports 2001-2004
violent acts. The Ombudsman stressed that certain national groups feel unable to
report to the police because of fear of ill-treatment from them; these feelings are
particularly acute in cases involving allegations of police violence.
However, abuse by agents of the State continues to be reported. Notably, in
September 2004, some army commandos violently abused a group of illegal
immigrants on a remote island and videoed their abuse. Encouragingly, once these
abuses came to light, the Ministry of the Defence took swift action – though an
incentive for this could have been the international media outcry in the aftermath of
revelations about US soldiers’ abuses of inmates at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
In light of the media attention on Athens in the period of the Olympic games, some
effort was made to encourage the police to effectively deal with other nationalities.
A handbook was issued to police officers, containing national and international
references to human and civil rights, and instructions on how to deal with non-
Greek speakers.
At the level of local government, a number of initiatives have been established that
also address different aspects of discrimination and racism, including racist
violence. For example, under the terms of law 2910/2001, local councils for the
prevention of crime have been recently established in ten municipalities with the
remit to, amongst other things, combat racism and violence. And in 2002, in view
of municipal elections, the ‘Citizens’ Movement Against Racism’ drew up an
‘Anti-Racist Charter for Local Authorities’, which many left of centre candidates
included in their election programmes and campaigns.
At the same time as mechanisms do not exist to effectively monitor racist violence,
existing legislation is woefully inadequate in punishing racist offenders; for
example:
Law 927/1979, which is now 25 years old, is the only specifically anti-racist
criminal law in Greece, which states that: ‘whoever intentionally and publicly
instigates, either orally or in the press or through written texts or illustrations or
through any other means, acts or activities capable of provoking discrimination,
hatred or violence against persons or a group of persons, only due to their racial or
national origin, is punishable by imprisonment of up to two years or a fine or both’.
The law has been amended to include participation in organised racist groups and
discrimination on the grounds of religion. However, to date, there has only been
one attempt to enforce this law.
A range of legal provisions are in place, including mechanisms for monitoring the
authorities – such as the Greek Ombudsman (Law 2477/1997), which,
theoretically, should be able to address a range of discriminatory and racist
treatment. However, as illustrated by the ineffectiveness of Law 927/1979 (above),
there is the ‘law in the books’ and the ‘law in practice’.
In sum, Greek legislation against racist violence and mechanisms for monitoring
incidents of racist violence, and criminal justice responses to them, are ineffectual
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